Blind Spot: When Journalists Don't Get Religion (Paperback)

~ Paul Marshall (Author), Lela Gilbert (Author), Roberta Green-Ahmanson (Author)
Key Phrases: religious voters, prophetic politics, religion reporter, John Paul, New York Times, The Passion (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It's not often that I let out a whoop of joy when I read a book, but I did while reading Blind Spot: When Journalists Don't Get Religion. I've been preaching this gospel for 15 years and it's great to see it so brilliantly argued and supported in these pages. The editors have assembled a top-flight team of scholars and writers to build the case brick by solid brick. It is now an unassailable truth: without an understanding of religion, a journalist can miss the greatest stories of our time. This is the book I -- and my students -- have been waiting for." --Professor Ari Goldman, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and author of The Search for God at Harvard
"Since press blindness is one reason for the declining circulations of standard newspapers and newsmagazines, Blind Spot should be required reading for journalists and journalism professors who hope to respond not only to technological changes but to cultural ones as well." --World

Product Description

Why do the media so often miss or misunderstand major news stories? One reason is that, in today's complex and pervasively religious world, understanding religion is vital in accurately reporting and interpreting current events. The authors of Blind Spot argue that all too frequently journalists and commentators do not take religion seriously and therefore fail to grasp the religious context of the news.

Blind Spot's essays examine news stories reported by major media sources in which key religious dimensions were ignored, overlooked, or misrepresented. These stories range from the 2004 U.S. presidential elections, to Iran, Iraq, and the papal succession. Blind Spot offers all readers -- whether people of faith or not -- an interesting and balanced analysis of the news media's uneasy relationship with religion and religious issues.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (November 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195374371
• ISBN-13: 978-0195374377
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #464,645 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent research and analysis, February 15, 2009

By	Kelly R. Moore "Kelly M." (Hickory, NC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is thorough, accurate, well-researched and actually entertaining. The message is shocking and unfortunate but well in need of being highlighted. Highly recommended to religious and non-religious alike.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing questions about religion and journalists , February 1, 2009

By	Jeri Nevermind "loves to read" (Idaho) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Blind Spot: When Journalists Don't Get Religion (Hardcover)

Yes, all research shows journalists are among the most secular of all groups in the US. Even so, why, why do they so often ignore or mangle stories about religion?

Here is a collection of essays investigating the problem.

What is most puzzling about American journalists is not just their tone deafness to stories about religion. They actually seem unaware of religion's importance throughout the world. Explosive growth in Christianity in Africa and Asia is ignored. The vital differences in Muslim sects is rarely mentioned, let alone investigated.

In these essays, Marshall notes that "Americans have been educated to believe that democracy and secularization go hand in hand" (p 22) so that we have misreported, and misunderstood, news about religion that is vital politically.

Hertzke argues that "the mainstream press largely missed one of the great foreign policy and human rights surprises in recent decades" (p 65), that of the banding together of various religious groups to spotlight human rights abuses. And, shocker, the New York Times missed it entirely. It did, however, inform its readers about the activities of the enemy. Oops. I mean the activities of the Christian Coalition.

Vinson and Guth point out how badly all the chattering classes got religion in the 2004 election. "Stories...persistently pitted Bush's blind faith against Kerry's intellectual rationality with a clear assumption that religion and reason do not coexist" (p 91).

Amy Welborn reports on journalists and the Catholics. Every time a pope is mentioned, sure enough, there are those same dissenting Catholics, none of whom has stepped inside a church in decades.

Interesting essays. I just wish there were some good solutions. Thank God for the internet.